


Reunions

by 10moonymhrivertam



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Couldn't get this out of my head, F/M, Plot Bunny, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10moonymhrivertam/pseuds/10moonymhrivertam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trees are never simple - least of all family trees.</p><p>**********</p><p>Okay, so I wrote this forever ago just so I could say "CALLED IT" over Bae, but now we've moved on, so I think I'm probably going to leave this story behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bae Arrives and the Truth is Told

**Author's Note:**

> Neal is Bae. He has to be.
> 
> Will likely be AU - set after Emma and Rumple will return from their trip.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry's Dad was not, it turns out, a fireman.

When Harry spotted the yellow Volkswagen beetle pulling up outside the house, he'd exclaimed happily and run outside. He stopped abruptly when he noticed Emma climb out of the car as quickly as possible, a furious expression on her face.

"Emma...?" he asked slowly. Emma stopped and stared at him for a moment.

"Come on. Let's go to where the castle used to be. I have to talk to you," she said. Henry glanced over at Rumpelstiltskin as he left the car, but his eyes widened a little as they fell on August and the stranger with them.

"You found him?" Henry asked.

"Come on," Emma urged.

They started walking. Henry glanced over at Emma and noticed that her silence seemed to be an angry one. When they arrived at where the Castle used to be, Emma took a deep breath before turning to Henry again.

"I lied to you," she said. Henry looked both confused and dismayed for a moment. "Your dad's not a fireman." 

Henry fell silent, his mind jumping uneasily to the fact that Emma and Rumpelstiltskin had been looking for the man's son.

"I told you that because -" Emma paused, as though trying to think of a good reason. Finally, she sighed. "There's no good reason. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to think about it."

Henry paused uneasily, but then stepped forward and hugged her tightly.

"It's okay," he assured her.

"No, it's not," she murmured, although she hugged him just as tightly in return. "I should've told you earlier."

"Yeah, you should've. But it's okay," he said.

After a moment, Emma pulled back and smiled at him just as someone cleared their throat. Emma's head snapped up, and Henry looked up to see the stranger.

"August said I might find you here," he said awkwardly.

At the stranger's declaration that August said he would find them there, Emma pulled back from Henry. She paused for a moment, then spoke.

"Neal....Henry Mills. Henry...Neal Cassidy." Emma only said that much before her voice failed her once more.

"Hey, kid," Neal greeted. Henry nodded a greeting in return. There was silence for several more moments.

"So...it's not August, right?" Henry asked finally.

"No," she confirmed. "It's Neal. And kid, let me tell you. The people in this town have complicated family trees," Emma said.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"Well...and I might as well say this now...Neal's your dad."

"Wait, what?" Neal said, even as a rather confused look crossed Henry's face.

"Did I mention that Henry's ten? And that I'm his mother?" she added, giving him a steady look. Neal cursed colorfully.

"I'm going to go find August and punch him in the face," Neal grumbled, but then he froze. "Emma....you didn't tell my dad about any of this, did you?"

"I'm not that stupid," scoffed Emma. "You go find August and get ready to give me one hell of an excuse. I'm going to go check on Belle."

"She's out of the hospital and in the library," Henry put in helpfully. Emma nodded and set off. Henry followed, leaving Neal behind to wallow in how very, very screwed over he was.


	2. The Library

Emma walked into the center of town with Henry trailing behind her.

"So, what was your trip like?" he asked after a while. Emma smiled. Sweet, sweet normalcy.

"Well, Gold was a jerk, as usual. We found August and Neal in a diner, arguing; Neal wanted to come here, August didn't want him to." Emma frowned, then, because she realized that August had talked about their old relationship. Suddenly, she realized that August must've put two-and-two together a long time ago and realized who's son Henry was. Perhaps August had not known that Neal was Baelfire, but all the same...

"I'm glad you're back," Henry said, pulling her out of her thoughts. Emma smiled, then realized something.

"Did you guys find Regina?"

"No," Henry admitted sadly. "We think Corra's gotten her already."

Emma sighed sadly as they walked toward the library. Emma paused. "Has anybody tried to explain the curse to her?"

"We decided not to do that," Henry admitted.

"Alright. The Sheriff asking some questions it is," she decided before pushing the door open.

Emma looked around and couldn't help but smile and inhale through her nose a little.

"Hello," greeted a voice with an Australian accent that was quickly becoming familiar. It was nice to hear her sounding at least relatively happy.

"Hey," Emma returned, turning to face her properly. Henry trotted off toward the kid's section. Emma glanced over and wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry when he pulled out what looked like one adaptation or another of Beauty and the Beast. But then Emma's attention fixed on Belle. "I - sorry, I guess I never learned your name," she apologized, frowning slightly as she remembered that Belle hadn't had a Storybrooke identity. Emma vaguely recalled Mr. Gold saying that Regina had had Belle locked up.

"Well, I don't remember," she admitted. "But your deputy told me that my name's Rose." Rose. Emma figured that whoever her "deputy" had been (probably David) had probably been thinking of the cursed rose in Beauty and the Beast. 

"Nice name," Emma complimented. "Well, I'm Emma Swan, the Sheriff. Do you have any questions for me?" Emma asked, smiling.

"Why does everyone call me Belle?" she asked immediately.

"You went by it before your accident," Henry put in, trotting over to stand at Emma's side.

"Everyone keeps saying I had an accident, but nothing happened," Belle frowned. She paused. "Who's the man that was there when I got sent to the hospital but who hasn't been here since?"

"Mr. Gold - he owns the town, and he's not very well-liked. He's lost a lot, and he takes it out on others. And the only person who could ever tame him has - well," Emma didn't add anything. "But hopefully his son, who we were looking for, can reign him in a bit," Emma added.

All of them were silent for several moments, and then August burst through the door.

"Emma! Emma, Neal's after me and he looks absolutely p -" he cut off when he spotted Henry. "Annoyed. He looks very, very annoyed. What did you tell him?"

Emma didn't get a chance to answer before Neal followed, looking rather murderous.


	3. Pinocchio's Meddling Discovered

Emma just looked between them. "Simmer down, both of you. Say hi to Rose," she ordered. Neal clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself. August looked warily at him before greeting Rose.

"Hello," she replied, looking between them. "Can I help you two?"

"I was just looking for Emma, because the only two people I can think of that can get a reaction like that out of poor, dear Neal are his Dad and his old girlfriend."

"And she could've been more if you hadn't interfered!" Neal burst out, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. August interfered?" Emma asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"He's told me about that book of his - any stories about the Dark One in there?" Neal demanded. Emma glanced back to Henry who nodded and reached for his backpack, setting the copy of Beauty and the Beast on the counter.

"Yes," August answered automatically as well. "You know, you could just ask _me_. I wrote it, after all. And yes, it does mention the dagger. Briefly. In fairly little detail - to be fair, if I'm missing any information, I was only about eight when we all came here," he added.

"Shut your trap," ordered Emma. "Were you asking about the dagger he mentioned?"

"Yes. Because as soon as he told me exactly which curse you were destined to break, he knew I'd give in, because I wanted to see my Dad again, if I had even the slimmest chance," Neal added. "He showed me a drawing of the dagger, proving that he wasn't lying about the curse. Once I was sure he wasn't lying -" Neal cut himself off with a shrug.

Emma stared between them, and there was silence in the library.

"So, let me get this straight. You, August, were compensating for not staying with me when I was a kid by having Neal break up with me. You, Neal, decided that the best way to do that was to give an anonymous tip. And you both did it just so I would end up in Storybrooke?" she asked, crossing her arms.

After a moment, both of them nodded silently.

Emma looked between them both for a moment.

"....When Mr. Gold finds out exactly how twisted Henry's family tree is, I am not going to get between either of you and him, is that clear?" she finally said.

"Perfectly," August ground out.

"Unfortunately," Neal added.

"Right," Emma nodded. She then turned back to Belle. "Sorry about that, Rose - it's some really complicated personal drama."

"...Curse?" she put in slowly.

Emma groaned, and just then, the door opened slowly, cautiously.


	4. Enter the Beast

Mr. Gold strode inside, his usually dominate attitude subdued in respect for Belle and Neal.

"What are you all doing in here?" he asked, looking around at them.

"Emma wanted to ask Rose some stuff. I was with her, so I figured I'd check out a book or something," shrugged Henry as he grabbed Beauty and the Beast from the counter once more. Mr. Gold spotted it and his eyes turned hard for a moment. But he shook himself out of that and nodded. "And you two?" he inquired of Neal and August.

"Running from him," August said, pointing to Neal.

"Chasing him," Neal admitted.

"Why?" Mr. Gold asked. There was an awkward, pregnant pause. Henry broke the silence by turning to Rose and presenting Beauty and the Beast.

"I'd like this one, please," he said, smiling.

"Will _you_ be willing to talk about that curse they were mentioning?" inquired Belle of Henry as she scanned it for him.

"Well..." Henry trailed off, ignoring the sharp looks of the adults. "I've got a book that sort of explains it. I can lend it to you. If you want," he offered with a shrug. Belle looked at the adults, her eyes narrowed slightly. Then she looked back to him.

"What's the due date?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Whenever you're done with it," Henry shrugged, smiling. "I don't need it anymore. I still like to read it once in a while, but I've got other people who know the book well enough," he pulled it from his backpack and handed it to her.

"Thank you very much," she smiled. "What's your name?" she added.

"Henry," he responded without bothering to give his last name. "I'm going to go back to Ms. Blanchard's house," he said to Emma, and it was a half-statement and half-request.

"Be careful," smiled Emma, and Henry smiled back and trotted out of the library.

"I'll be going now," said August, looking cautiously between them all.

"Fine. Just keep in mind that if you keep meddling, I'm going to kick your ass," Emma said, and August rolled his eyes and retreated. 

Then Emma, Neal, Mr. Gold, and Belle were left alone in the library.

"Now. Bae. What were you and August fighting over?" he inquired.

"It's an argument they had ten years ago that vaguely affected me," shrugged Emma.

"Liar," Mr. Gold accused.

"Affected me," Emma amended, disposing with the 'vaguely' and crossing her arms.

"How?"

"You know that prison stint of mine that Regina discovered?" Emma said, her gaze hardening. "Their faults."

"Theirs?" he asked, shifting his weight and his cane in a way that made Emma think he didn't like her accusing his son of having gotten her sent to prison.

"Dad - calm down. It _is_ our fault," Neal admitted. "August showed me a drawing of the dagger and told me it was Emma's destiny to break the curse. I listened to him, however stupid it was to do so, and called in an anonymous tip about the watches we were planning to fence."

Belle stared.

"I wash my hands of this weirdness," she muttered, disappearing somewhere deep into the library with the book Henry had let her borrow.

"And this was ten years ago?" Mr. Gold asked.

"Ten or eleven, yeah," responded Emma, knowing he was probably going to figure it out soon enough.

"Both of you were planning to fence the watches. Together," Mr. Gold said.

"Yes," Emma responded.

"Working together?"

Neal was the one to surrender. "And sleeping together."

"Ten years ago," Mr. Gold repeated.

"Ten years ago," Emma confirmed. "I'm going to Mary-Margaret and David's."


	5. Father-Son Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal discovers Emma is from the Enchanted Forest, but not who her parents are - that's for next time.

As Emma made for the door to escape, Mr. Gold stepped in front of her. Emma stopped, her lips pursed angrily.

"Ten years ago," he said once more.

"Yes, Neal is Henry's Dad!" Emma cried. "I do not have to be the one to deal with this, not right now! Good bye!" she said before sprinting past him and out the door.

Silence reigned once more, settling thick and heavy in the room.

"Dad -" Neal tried, but Rumpelstiltskin cut him off by holding a hand up.

"I know I have very little right to be angry," he said, keeping his voice as level as possible. "Because I didn't come with you. But I am afraid of change - I'm a coward. However, as soon as you left - I've been trying to get back to you for years, Bae. You don't want to know how long it's been for me," he added. "This," he gestured as though trying to encompass Storybrooke, "was the only way I could find."

"No way but a curse," stated Neal.

"We can talk about that later," he said. He paused once more. "You'd been sleeping with her, and you left without so much as a second glance?"

"No," hissed Neal. "I left her with as much as August would let me. I gave her the Beetle - I gave her a good deal of what I got from fencing the watches. But I didn't know - he never told me!" Neal cried. "Neither of them ever told me! Anything!"

"You should've stayed!" roared Rumpelstiltskin. "You should've gone after her, you should've found out!"

"Yeah, maybe! But I was afraid! I'm just surprised she hasn't punched me in the face - I'd deserve it!" Baelfire roared right back, and they both stood there, glaring at each other and breathing heavily. Slowly, they calmed, and Bae made an addition.

"Besides....we were planning to go live in Tallahassee - why would we have come up to some little town in Maine that was probably protected from detection by that curse, anyway? I mean, maybe _I'd_ have noticed it, since I lived in the Enchanted Forest, but Emma..." Neal trailed off and shrugged. Rumpelstiltskin made a noncommittal noise and Neal's eyes narrowed.

"She didn't, did she?"

"Well...she was only there for about five minutes or so," Rumpelstiltskin replied.

"You are fucking kidding me," Neal groaned, going over to bang his head gently against a bookcase.

"'Fraid not. Would you like to drop in and visit her?" Mr. Gold asked cautiously.

"...She ran away," Neal reminded.

"We might as well introduce you to Mary-Margaret and David," shrugged Mr. Gold. Neal sighed and nodded.

"Lead on," he said, moving forward to walk by his father's side as they stepped out of the library and into the street.


	6. Introductions

Mary-Margaret was happy to greet Henry when the boy returned, and she watched with a smile as he trotted over to the bed and sat down there to read. There was calm for a while while Mary-Margaret and David sat at the kitchen table, talking quietly. Then the door burst open and Emma stormed in, looking upset.

"Emma?" Mary-Margaret asked cautiously. Emma stopped long enough to give a short, vague explanation.

"Bae is Neal and Neal is Henry's Dad. I - need to be alone for a while," she said quietly, retreating upstairs. All three family members looked after her with worried expressions. Uneasily, Henry returned to the book. Mary-Margaret and David exchanged a look, but stayed where they were, keeping silent.

It was at least ten minutes later when there was a soft knock on the door. Mary-Margaret's brow furrowed and she looked to David, who shrugged. Mary-Margaret stood and answered the door. She was both surprised and unsurprised to find Rumpelstiltskin and a stranger at the door.

"I was wondering if I could introduce my son to your wonderful family," Rumpelstiltskin - or was it Mr. Gold, at the moment? - spoke.

"Yeah, sure," Mary-Margaret smiled at them both and stepped aside. Neal looked around with interest as he entered. He nodded to Henry, who nodded back a little warily. Once they were both inside and the door had been shut behind them, David stood to greet the newcomer.

"Hey," he said, holding out a hand for him to shake.

"Hey," Neal replied, shaking it firmly. "Neal Cassidy - or Baelfire, depending on where you're from."

"David Knowles. And -"

"Actually," Rumpelstiltskin interrupted, "if none of you mind, I'd like to have him guess."

While David sent him a look that said 'really?', Neal verbalized it in a groan.

"I won't make you. I'd just like to see what you think," Rumpelstiltskin defended himself.

Neal sighed and crossed his arms, then looked to Mary-Margaret and David.

"May I look around?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know if you'll be able to figure it out just by looking around the house," Mary-Margaret said. "My last name will be more helpful."

"It's....Blanchard, right? Henry said," he explained.

"Exactly," smiled Mary-Margaret.

After that, they left him to it. Rumpelstiltskin was eventually offered a chair and he nodded a thanks as he sat down. Mary-Margaret and David slowly returned to talking, shooting Neal glances every now and then. Henry eventually darted into the room to grab a piece of paper, muttering something vague about 'correcting' the book.

Finally, Neal returned to them, leaning on the counter and thinking hard. "Blanchard," he muttered. "Blanchard.....is Knowles important?" he said to himself.

Mary-Margaret couldn't help but grin.

Finally, Neal sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "Can I get a hint?"

"Blanc," Henry piped up from the bed. "Like in French. Blanc - Blanchard."

"Oh, Henry! That's practically giving it away," laughed Mary-Margaret.

"Blanc...what, like 'white'? So your last name is White," he stated, and then his eyes widened. He couldn't help but laugh a little. "No way! Snow White?"

Mary-Margaret nodded, grinning.

"So you're Prince Charming?" Neal asked, pointing to David.

"Depends on who you ask," David shrugged, grinning. "But yeah," he added.

"Snow White and Prince Charming. Wow," he couldn't help but say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a really weird place to stop...I'll probably add some later, when I'm less distracted.


End file.
